Have you thought about starting a podcast for your company? Are you curious about the process of creating a fantastic podcast episode?
This manual will walk you through every step of creating a podcast show, including scheduling your episodes, pre-production, recording, editing, and even post-production.
But first, we need to deal with something.
Table of Contents
Audio Or Video?
It might be easiest to begin with an audio podcast if you are new to podcast production. The costs of producing an audio podcast are relatively low; all you need is a decent microphone and some free audio editing software, like audacity. Although external microphones should be used to achieve a good sound quality, more and more smartphones can be used to record interviews.
It takes a little more work to create video podcasts because setting up the recording equipment can be more difficult and video editing typically takes more time. To get it right, you need a good camera, a tripod, microphones, and a professional demeanor. It is possible to perform editing and post-production tasks using a variety of free software programs. However, it can take time and practice to shoot videos from various angles in a setting that looks professional; the same is true for post-production. If you consider starting an academic video podcast do check the various academic YouTube channels to get a feeling of the good, the bad or the ugly (academic) video content. Make sure you have a solid idea for your video podcast and the resources to launch it before you begin.
Audio podcasts, in general, are simpler to create and can sound more professional without costing a fortune in equipment.
Is It Worth It to Launch a Podcast Show Today?
Look, there’s no point in skirting the issue at hand. Only a select few other marketing techniques, such as podcasting, may come close to matching it in terms of fostering an emotional bond with the target market.
Emails, videos, and other types of media can all be used to engage customers. Indeed, with strong copy you could make them feel something.
However, it’s challenging to establish a genuine emotional bond in this manner, one that gives your audience the impression that they know you personally.
Podcasting is unique because of this.
After all, people all over the world listen to podcasts. They may watch your episodes as they travel to work. Your voice could be heard by listeners while they are at home, at work, exercising, traveling, and more.
Isn’t that unbelievable?
Therefore, the increased interest in podcasting comes as little surprise.
Each month, millions of shows are produced. In a similar vein, more and more listeners are turning to podcasts for information, guidance, and entertainment.
For instance, based on this data, podcast listenership is at an all-time high right now. It turns out that we have listened to shows for a total of 15 billion hours this year. Just two years ago, we engaged in the same activity for 12 billion hours.
But there’s more: according to a number of projections, within the next three years, there will be 100 million listeners of podcasts in the US alone. That is almost one for every three Americans!
Finally, 28% of listeners prefer podcasts over all other audio content types, including listening to music on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or the radio.
Without a doubt, starting a professional podcast presents your company with a fantastic opportunity to expand your audience and forge a strong emotional bond with them.
Producing incredible podcasts, however, is easier said than done, as with many other aspects of life.
Hence this guide.
In order to produce a podcast episode, you must follow the steps detailed in the overview provided below. And we’ll start right at the beginning, when you have to choose the kind of show you’re going to make.
How to Produce a Podcast?
To summarize you can follow these 12 simple steps to produce a podcast:
- Decide what your podcast is about
- Define who your target listener is
- Find the right podcast format for you
- Work out episode length and frequency
- Name your show
- Plan your episodes’ script and interview questions
- Set Up Your Podcast Production Space
- Record your podcast
- Edit and polish your podcast recording
- Launch, distribute and share your podcast
- Promote Your Podcast & Grow Your Audience
- Repurpose your podcast
We’ve covered the steps involved in creating a podcast in detail below. Instead of discussing each step in detail, we covered everything in the stages of preparing a podcast strategy and setup, recording your podcast, and finally launching your podcast.
For all the information you require on creating a podcast, continue reading.
Prepare and Plan Your Podcast Strategy and Setup
The various actions to take before recording your show are described in this section. For your podcast to be focused, interesting, and have a loyal audience, you must learn how to produce it.
Create Your Podcast Strategy
- Establish the topic of your podcast. There are some 30 million podcasts in existence, so making yours stand out from the rest is more important than ever. Keep your podcast’s purpose and topic at the forefront of your podcast production process. A podcast that does this well is Code Switchby NPR: Each episode examines culture and society in light of racial and ethnic diversity. What makes this particular show unique from others? It conveys information that is frequently omitted from news sources.
- Decide who your intended audience is. Decide who your target audience is and create content you know they’ll like while keeping in mind that niche podcasts typically perform better. The Beeristspodcast is a great example of this. They taste and review beers because they are craft beer enthusiasts, and their content reflects that. They are aware that their audience consists of other beer enthusiasts.
- Find the right podcast format for you. Your content will determine the best podcast format to use. Some are monologues or multiple-host narratives, like comedy true-crime podcast My Favorite Murder. Others play out like a magazine, with hosts discussing a selection of different stories, like This American Life.
Interviews are another option. Having a well-known expert on your podcast is a great way to increase your audience and create interesting content. In fact, The Tim Ferriss Show mainly involves interviewing spectacular personalities, and it’s one of the most popular podcasts out there.
Every episode of some podcasts is built around interviews, while others mix them in as a special feature with other formats.
- Set up the frequency and length of the episodes. Think about the amount of material you have to cover, the time and location of your audience, and the frequency with which you’ll be releasing shows. The average podcast tends to be between 25 and 30 minuteslong, which is conveniently similar to the average commute time in the U.S.
Having said that, if your podcast is a daily news bulletin like NPR’s Up Firstpodcast, it’s best to keep it around or under 10 minutes. Whatever frequency you choose for your podcast, make sure it is consistent and that your listeners are informed of the launch date. - Name your show. Make sure the name of your podcast is both simple and long enough to convey the content to listeners. The name should be original, and, importantly, if your podcast is an extension of your business’s marketing strategy, it should also follow your branding. The winner here has to go to My Dad Wrote a Porno: it’s memorable and describes exactly what the podcast does, read (hilarious, not at all sexy) erotic fiction written by the host’s father.
Plan Your Episodes
Planning the content of your episodes is the next step in podcast production after deciding what your show will be about. To ensure that each episode of your podcast is interesting and concise, make a simple bulleted list of the topics that will be covered. You can also create a full podcast script, but make sure you’re not just reading off a script. It’s important for the show to sound conversational and natural.
Set Up Your Podcast Production Space
The key to making your podcast sound better is where you record it and what equipment you use. Everyone does not have access to a studio. Instead, record in a quiet room where you can eliminate background noise. Consistent sound quality can be achieved by setting up your microphone in a dedicated recording space.
It may seem expensive to invest in the right tools for podcast production. If you set a budget, you’ll discover that there are many options that balance price and quality. Most importantly, you’ll need headphones and a microphone for each podcast host and spares for guests. Encourage your guests to use these if you’re conducting remote interviews. The sound quality will be greatly improved.
If you choose to create a video podcast, you will also need additional equipment like mixers, audio interfaces, and possibly even a camera. We dive into everything you need further in our essential podcast equipment checklist.
The software you use to record your podcast is the last step. For a variety of budgets, there are numerous options. Look for software that records separate tracks locally, doesn’t compress audio, and uploads recordings progressively to ensure high-quality sound with a backup in the event of connection issues.
Riverside ticks all the boxes here, guaranteeing studio-quality sound no matter where you’re recording. This is particularly useful considering remote podcasting has become the norm with social distancing!
Record Your Podcast
Recording a Podcast With Riverside:
Our step-by-step video tutorial shows how easy it is to record a podcast with Riverside, no matter where you and your fellow podcasters are. To put it another way, you and your participants can enter your virtual recording studio in various capacities—as a host, a guest, a producer, or a member of the audience—and take part in the recording in a variety of ways.
- As a producer, you have full control over the recordingand can communicate with the host and guests, but your own audio and video are not recorded.
- As the host, you’ll have the same controls as the producer, but you will be recorded. The moment you press the Start Recording button, guests can simply choose to enter the recording studio. They will then begin to be recorded. At the conclusion of the recording, they can also “hang up” and leave the platform.
Podcast Post-Production: Edit and Polish Your Podcast Recording
The steps after recording your show are editing and launching your podcast. Some podcasters opt to release their audience’s original recordings without any audio editing. Riverside, a cutting-edge recording program, is excellent for these users. Before you even download your tracks, you can make changes on our platform, such as removing background noise, to give you a well-composed recording that is ready for release.
For more extensive edits to your recording, you’ll need good podcast editing software, also known as a digital audio workstation or DAW. The main steps in podcast editing to ensure a high-quality, engaging show are:
- Content editing. Remove pauses, errors, extra words, and seconds from your speech. Make sure the narrative flows and the discussions are interesting and pertinent by referring to your podcast plan once more.
- Adding sound design. To improve the listening experience, strategically use resources like music tracks and sound effects. Making your podcast’s intro and outro falls under this step. Note: use Riverside’s integrated mediaboardfor this.
- Mixing and mastering. The most technical aspect of podcast production is this. To achieve the best sound quality and get your podcast ready for distribution, it involves making various adjustments to the recorded audio.
Launch, Distribute and Share Your Podcast
Are you prepared to publish your podcast recording? Your next step is uploading it to a podcast hosting platform where it is stored as an The websites then produce an RSS feed for each episode, which can be used to share the podcast on other directories and platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Publishing your podcast on these directories is key to expanding your audience, as it allows new people to find your podcast.
Promote Your Podcast & Grow Your Audience
Sharing your show is the last stage of podcast production. This step is crucial to expanding your listener base, regardless of whether you’re using your new podcast to advertise your company, attract new clients, or monetize the podcast itself.
There are different ways to promote and grow your podcast. Start by ensuring your content is compelling and your cover art makes people want to listen, and then look into tactics such as:
- Make sure the website, show notes, audio transcript, and keywords for your podcast are all search engine-friendly.
- Social media. Share your podcast on social media and urge your listeners to do the same.
- interacting with the listeners. The best way to create content you know they’ll like is to interact with your audience on social media and consider their suggestions for upcoming episodes. You can easily use Riverside to broadcast your podcast live on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch while taking calls from viewers. There aren’t many interactive experiences that compare to that!
- Online Ads. By launching an advertising campaign on social media or other websites where listeners go to find new podcasts, you can drive more people to your show.
Repurpose Your Podcast
It’s a good idea to repurpose your podcast into other materials if you really want to take it further. You can use podcast transcripts to create blog posts or written social media content. Many podcasters also produce brief shareable clips, which they distribute to advertise their shows. Riverside’s Clip tool is great for repurposing your podcast in this way, without any extra effort.
Get Producing Your Own Podcast
Your company can reach a whole new audience of potential customers by producing a podcast, which is a great way to advertise your brand.
You’ve now read this guide and realized that while there are many steps involved in creating a podcast, they can be made simple and enjoyable with the right equipment.
Types of Podcasts You Could Produce
The hardest choice I have to make when starting a podcast is the format of the episodes.
However, I must admit that selecting the format might appear easy at first. Your objective is to establish a rapport with the audience and provide them with guidance on various matters related to their customer problem.
Therefore, all you really need to do is discuss those issues. That’s it, right?
Well, not really.
In the beginning, it’s possible that the audience has different hopes for the performance. For instance, they might be used to hearing interviews. Or perhaps they would prefer to hear you speak on your own.
But also, you may (or may not) feel comfortable talk about a topic for 20 minutes on your own.
The likelihood of the show’s success will therefore depend on the delivery method you choose.
Overall, you can choose between four different podcast types:
A Solo Host Show
This type of podcast, as the name implies, depends entirely on you, from coming up with the ideas for episodes to delivering the content. You are typically the only participant on solo host shows. This indicates that it is entirely up to you to engage and amuse the audience.
The most challenging podcast for a new podcaster to launch is a solo show. For many people, speaking into a microphone by themselves for even 15 minutes is extremely difficult.
It is simpler to record a cohost or interview-based show because the dynamic and energy can shift between you and the other person.
A Co-host Show
You serve as one of two or more hosts for an episode of this type of podcast. These types of programs frequently center on host conversations. Of course, there would be a topic and a theme for every discussion or episode. But when participants converse and exchange ideas, something magical happens.
Interview-based Podcast
Like co-host shows, interview podcasts have a similar vibe. The main distinction is that there isn’t a regular host on the show; instead, at least one of the participants is a guest. As a result, the focus of the program is the individual who imparts their knowledge and expertise on a particular subject.
Keep in mind that you can also run a show that combines co-hosting and interview segments. I do this, for instance, on our podcast for our listeners. I co-host each show with Matt, but we also frequently interview guests about various aspects of podcasting.
Narrative Podcasts
Storytelling is a big part of narrative podcasts. Narrative episodes do not have a linear structure, in contrast to the other kinds of shows I mentioned above. Instead, they rely on editing together different content pieces—interviews, audio files, music, and so forth—to construct a story.
You can see what I mean by listening to this show’s opening sequence.
As the host describes moving to Boston, the sounds of trains, packing a suitcase, and the city are audible in the background.
With that out of the way…
Is That It?
Yes, that’s all there is to creating a podcast. Your audience can watch the episode because it is currently airing live.
The show’s work, however, continues after this point. For instance, a promotion needs to be completed. You must find new listeners, entice them to your show, and persuade them to subscribe.
Additionally, there’s the planning of upcoming episodes and the expansion of your podcast as a whole. It will take time to do that as well.
But at least you are confidently able to follow the process now that you are aware of how to make a podcast.
Good luck!